Momentum is certainly building for the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 series of processors which are no doubt eager to reclaim the best CPU for gaming crown from Intel. There's going to be stiff competition on both sides as 2022 rages into full swing, with both team red and team blue eager to outdo each other. Here's everything we know about AMD Ryzen 7000 so far.
The past few years have seen the gap between both companies become thinner and more fierce than ever, and it looks as though the AMD Ryzen 7000 line has every intention to keep stoking the flames. We're expecting big things from the AMD Ryzen 5000 series successor, and with the jump to LGA1718, it's looking like a huge shakeup is coming.
With Ryzen 7000 series processors looking to power all the best gaming PCs in the very near future, there's never been a better time to get ahead of the curve. It remains to be seen as to exactly how powerful Zen 4 is going to be, but we've speculated on the Ryzen 7000 release date, price, and performance potential below.
When could Ryzen 7000 series be released?
All we know for definite regarding the AMD Ryzen 7000 series launch window is that it's going to happen in the second half of 2022. However, were we to speculate based on what little was shown off at CES 2022, then we wouldn't be surprised to see the Ryzen 7000 series hitting shelves around October / November time. We can theorize around this release window by casting our minds back to when the current generation of CPUs, the Ryzen 5000 series, was released - which was in October.
While this isn't a confirmed time frame, it is unlikely that we'll see the Ryzen 7000 series materialize any earlier, and this is because of the recent release of the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs in February and March. AMD would not want to create brand confusion by releasing two separate generations of processors, one built upon Zen 3+ and the latter on Zen 4 architecture so closely together.
How much could the AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors cost?
If the Ryzen 7000 series prices remain consistent with what we've observed with prior generations then we can roughly estimate the rates. To do this, we'll take into account the four main processors in the current line-up. The Ryzen 5 5600X is the cheapest at $299 / £275, with the Ryzen 7 5800X following suit at $449 / £413. As far as enthusiast options go, the Ryzen 9 5900X was released at $549 / £505, and the most powerful of the lot, the Ryzen 9 5950X debuted at a staggering $799 / £735.
The Ryzen 5000 series saw a $50 increase over the Ryzen 3000 series, with previous-gen equivalents being a little more affordable: Ryzen 5 3600X ($249), Ryzen 7 3800X ($399), Ryzen 9 3900X ($499), and Ryzen 9 3950X ($749). Should this trend continue for Zen 4, it's looking like we should brace our wallets for that little added expense at release.
From this information, we can discern that the potential Ryzen 5 7600X could cost around the $350 mark, with the Ryzen 7 7800X likely to push $500. Similarly, we wouldn't be surprised to see the Ryzen 9 7900X at $600, nor a Ryzen 7950X retail for $850 - $900. The minor price increase would follow what we've seen from previous jumps in generations.
What performance can we expect from the AMD Ryzen 7000 series?
As with all facets of technology, innovation doesn't stand still and the same can very much be said for the Ryzen 7000 series. The biggest advantage that the upcoming Zen 4 architecture chipsets can boast over their competition is the switch over from 7nm to 5nm, making for far faster and more power-efficient performance.
As expected, the smaller silicon will mean a socket change, as Zen 4 architecture Ryzen 7000 CPUs are built upon 5nm, they will be running on the AM5 socket. What's more, there's also the jump to PCIe 5.0, which in turn brings with it DDR5 RAM support for faster speeds than previously possible across the board.
Then there's a lesser discussed element to a potential ace Ryzen 7000 CPUs could be hiding up their sleeves - 3D cache. If the recently unveiled AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is anything to go by, which boasts a roughly 9% performance increase (according to leaked benchmarks as covered by Videocardz) over the stock Ryzen 7 5800X, this could be the factor that outclasses some of Intel's latest and greatest.
Will the AMD Ryzen 7000 series be faster than Intel?
This is perhaps the most perpetuated question that's persisted online since the Intel Core 12th generation come onto the market in late 2021. It's likely that the latest Ryzen CPUs could outperform the current generation Intel line, however, team blue is reportedly already hard at work on the 13th generation 'Raptor Lake' according to Wccftech. The only thing we do know is that things are going to get incredibly competitive on both sides.
You can find more from AMD with the best graphics cards for gaming as well as inside the best gaming laptops, too.
